Whaddayaknow?

Regional Mysteries Solved, One Column At A Time.

Q: What is the name of these long squiggly things that fall of the oak trees and pile up in the streets like tumbleweeds. We call them "long squiggly things" but were hoping for a better name.

A: Impress your friends and start calling those "squiggly things" catkins, which are pendulous, spike-like, often drooping, flower clusters. Catkins are either male or female and both can appear on one plant or each on separate plants. Oak trees have separate male and female flowers on the same tree. The male flowers are pollen-bearing stamens on catkins; females are rounded-to-pointed, knob-like and usually on short spikes in leaf axils.

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